Sundance Film Festival Cancels Rose Bowl and Other Drive-In Screenings Over COVID Concerns

Saying “The safety and well-being of our audiences, community and staff is the most important thing,” programmers with the Sundance Film Festival announced they were canceling screenings planned at Southern California drive-ins, including the Rose Bowl Drive-In.

The event was canceled due to surging COVID-19 infection rates in Southern California.

“In consideration of the overall public health situation in the Los Angeles area and the trajectory of the spread of the virus there, the health guidelines, and crisis the hospital systems are facing we will be pivoting our planned drive-in screenings to our online platform,” Sundance said in a statement.

Sundance earlier planned an online hub and U.S. industry partnerships to carry off a novel coronavirus-era indie film showcase for its 2021 edition to run from Jan. 28 to Feb. 3, according to The Hollywood Reporter. That included drive-in movie theater screenings, including in California at Mission Tiki Drive-In in Montclair, the Rose Bowl Drive-In in Pasadena, and the Fort Mason Drive-In in San Francisco.

The festival now sees the Southern California outdoor screenings as “inadvisable,” reported the entertainment trade magazine, and will be pulled after consultations with local public health officials. That move comes as the COVID-19 crisis again pauses film production in Los Angeles and continues to upend planning for Sundance’s upcoming 2021 edition.

The festival, Deadline reported, opted for a semi-virtual option in lieu of its traditional exhibition in Park City, Utah. This year’s film lineup was set to screen films in the Utah ski town as well as on screens and drive-ins in 24 states and territories across the country.

The announcement comes as Los Angeles County officials identified 13,512 new coronavirus cases and 224 deaths related to the infectious disease. Incidents of the new, more contagious strain of the coronavirus have also been found throughout Southern California, from Big Bear to San Diego County.

In a separate letter to filmmakers obtained by The Hollywood Reporter, festival programmers point to a “significant spike in COVID-19 cases,” the appearance of a new virus strain and pressures on local hospitals in California, as grounds for its decision to cancel drive-in screenings.

“It is deeply unfortunate that Southern California, and Los Angeles County in particular, is now one of the worst-hit parts of the country,” the letter to filmmakers adds.

Sundance will still go ahead elsewhere in the U.S. with countrywide screening partnerships with indie cinemas and cultural organizations well beyond Utah to ensure, where allowed by local public health officials, a traditional Sundance premiere for film titles.

Shortened to seven days, compared to the usual 10 days, the Sundance Institute’s upcoming event will feature 72 feature-length movies and additional short films on a bespoke digital platform, rather than see industry players move among theaters in Park City to take in premieres, events and talks, as in the past.